Many of us are too young to have seen Joel Grey's legendary Broadway performance as the Emcee in Cabaret. When it comes to Mr. Grey, we must be content with the movie version. (And with his turn as a demon in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Wouldn't want to leave that out.)
On the other hand, when it comes to Cabaret on stage, for us non-geezers it's Scottish triple-threat Alan Cumming who is the Emcee, from the acclaimed West End and Broadway revival in the 1990s.
To those who know Cumming only as the hyper-uptight political fixer Eli Gold on The Good Wife, his sexualized, incendiary version of the classic Kander and Ebb role may come as a happy surprise when they see him play it again on Broadway. Also starring Michelle Williams, the show is now in previews at Studio 54. (Incidentally, Cumming doesn't just do Cabaret, he also does cabaret.)
We'll get a taste of the new revival on TV on Thursday, April 10, when The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon will showcase its first Broadway number: Alan Cumming and the cast of Cabaret performing "Willkommen."
In all likelihood, this will be only the first of many. Fallon's a Broadway fan, and when he announced he was moving the late-night show to the Big Apple, Broadway producers got all verklempt. A Tonight Show producer explained: "Whichever Broadway show gets there first will reap rewards. And we hope a precedent will be established. The Tonight Show is setting itself up as part of the New York landscape, and you don’t get any more New York than Broadway."
To anyone wondering how an actor could have enough energy to do a Broadway show and a TV series, I'd refer you to Exhibit M: Cumming's solo Macbeth, which he presented on Broadway last year.
Solo. Macbeth. 'Nuff said.
